Neo Duel Academy, Freshman Year
by Hero Slayer
Summary: Duel Academy hasn't changed much over the years. Biased teachers, dorm room rivalries, and soul stealing duelists... The more things change, the more they stay the same.
1. Chapter 1

HS: Okay here we go. I have had this pilot chapter done for a while now. This is here to gauge my writing style, and really the over all idea of the story.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh 5D's or any of the cards used in the Yugioh franchise.

xxxxx

**_First Days and First Problems_**

The sun shined down on Neo Domino City, the city of prosperity and holder of the infinite energy source that is Momentum. It was still early in the morning and there few people on the streets, trudging to the early shifts of their jobs.

A raven haired teen groaned lightly as a ray of sunlight slipped past his shades onto his face. With a small yawn the black haired teen rose slowly, half heartingly throwing a shirt on until...

_BOOM!_

"Fayt! Wake up!" A body slammed open his door and flew threw the room. Fayt ignored the outburst, sidestepped the flying body slam and finished getting dressed. Walking to the downed body, he recognized it to a brown hair boy. He poked it few times. "Michael, why are you here so early?"

Michael quickly shot up and grinned. "I'm here to make sure your not late. We're finally going to Duel Academy and you're not going to ruin this day by getting us late and yelled at."

Fayt rolled his eyes, "We've been enrolled since middle school."

"Prep classes don't count, no more type specific classes or duel tutorials." the brown haired boy pouted, "Come on! I came early so we could check out the campus."

Fayt waved him off, "Go ahead, I'll meet you there."

Michael frowned and mumbled, "Right, see you." Before heading out of the room.

Fayt shook his head as he watched his energetic friend leave. Grabbing his watch and bag he started towards school.

"What a drag." (1)

xxxxx

**Neo Duel Academy-  
High School Campus  
**

Fayt Reinchild walked through the gates of Neo Duel Academy's high school campus for his first day of school. He looked around idly, trying to find Michael in the large crowd of students all in similarly colored blazers were lined up in an orderly fashion.

"Yeck, the opening ceremony." He cringed. They were so boring. All opening ceremonies were always the same, there would be a few speeches, a honor's student would go on and on about something or other and the principal or someone important would make another speech, etc. He honestly couldn't understand the point of these kind of things. Heck, he didn't even understand why Michael was so excited to explore the campus, they had been in the school during their middle school graduation.

Making sure not to be noticed, Fayt made his way to the side of the campus. Fayt looked around, and after finding a nice bit of shade, he laid down and closed his eyes. He probably had an hour or so until the opening ceremony was finished, just enough time for a nice nap.

xxxxx

A figure searched around the grounds. It knew it's prey was around here somewhere. It had heard about it in the halls. A pair of giggling girls had gossiped about the boy sleeping in under a tree.

There! Behind the bleachers.

xxxxx

"WAKE UP!"

"Wah!" Fayt shot up and looked around frantically.

"Up here!"

Looking up, he saw a girl glaring down at him. She looked about the same age as him, and was dressed in the standard blue blazer and skirt combo that was supplied by the school. The girl had long blonde hair. Her cute face was filled with both determination and anger as Fayt stared back in confusion.

Fayt blinked and tried to shake off the post nap grogginess so he could come up with an intelligent comment, "Uh... what?"

He failed miserably.

The girl was seething at this point. "Fayt Reinchild, Class 1-C, you have some nerve. Not only did you not attend the welcoming ceremony, you're not in your uniform and you've even got the guts to ditch the first day of school!"

Fayt frowned and ignored the girl as she started to rant about the importance of rules, then looked down at his watch. Well, what do you know, he had slept through the first half of the school day. Fayt stood up and after brushing some grass off his clothes slipped past the ranting girl.

"Ano..." (2) Fayt looked around and saw another girl in blue shyly tugging on the other girls sleeve. "Serena, he's leaving." The girl froze and cut in front of Fayt.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Fayt shrugged, "Lunch?" He answered hopefully.

Serena's eye was twitching by now, "You are going to go apologize to all the teacher's who classes you've missed and then-"

Fayt cut her off, "Listen, are you part of the discipline committee or something?"

Serena looked confused, "No, why?"

Fayt walked around her, "Then I don't have to listen to you."

"Stop!"

Fayt rolled his eyes, _'Girl doesn't listen does she?'_

Listening he heard the other girl speak up again. "A-ah Serena, w-wait you shouldn- Look out!"

Curious, Fayt turned around only to catch a glimpse of a duel disk coming at him. _'Well don't that beat all.'_

CRASH

Face meet duel disk.

Fayt groaned, "Ow..." After getting up he glared at the duo. "What was that for!?"

Serena glared right back at him, "Your going to apologize even if I have to drag you myself!"

xxxxx

Fayt looked down at the duel disk on his arm in confusion. He wasn't confused by the device. No, he had one just like it at home. What he was confused with, was how he ended up in a duel with the crazy duel disk throwing girl.

"Listen...uh..." Damn, what was her name again.

"Serena." The other girl supplied.

"Thanks. Listen Serena. I don't know who you are but I don't have time for this." He really didn't need to make a spectacle of himself on the first day, and a duel in the middle of class would no doubt draw some attention.

Serena only primed her duel disk and drew her first hand. "Are you going to duel or whine?"

Fayt sighed, "What a drag." He activated his disk and drew his hand.

**"DUEL"**

**Fayt: 4000LP**

**Serena: 4000LP**

"I'll go first." Serena drew her card and nodded. "I'll summon Lumina-Lightsworn Summoner in defense mode, then play one reverse card." A young boy clad in white with various jewelery appeared in a shower of lights, his attack and defense both at 1000. "During my End Phase, Lumina forces me to send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard. End Turn." Serena slid the cards from her deck to the grave.

"Lightsworn, huh? Haven't seen those yet. Right, my turn. Draw!" Fayt looked down at his hand. "Right, I play Twin Sword Marauder in Attack mode." An armored clad knight with a large triple bladed weapon attached to each fist appeared next to Fayt. "He's got 1600 Attack points, more than enough to take out your Summoner. So, Attack!" The knight slashed through the monster. "Also, don't think your life points are going to be safe. My Marauder has two special effects, one is piecing so he can do damage even if your monster is in defence mode, but if my monster attacks a monster in defense mode, he can attack again. So Second Sword Strike!" The knight slashed at Serena with the sword on his other arm dealing even more damage to her. "I'll end after playing two face downs." He grinned, "Sorry, but I'm not going to hold back in a duel."

**Serena: 1800LP**

Serena dusted herself off after the strike. "Striking a lady when she's down. Hmph, you're even more of a delinquent than I first thought. Draw!" Serena looked down at her card and smiled. "I activate my trap Glorious Illusion. I can summon a Lightsworn back in Attack mode. So I summon my Lumina." The white clad boy reappeared. "I equip him with Lightsworn Sabre raising his attack points by 700." Lumina pulled a sword made of pure light out of thin air.

"I'll also made use of his special effect. I discard one card to special summon Jain Lightsworn Paladin." Jain was a white haired knight clad in white and gold armor. "Then I'll play Foolish Burial to send my Wulf Lightsworn Beast from my deck to the grave. That activates his special ability allowing me to special summon him to the field." A large white humanoid wolf dressed in fine white wielding a large battle axe appeared next to his allies.

Fayt stared at the three rather powerful monsters in surprise and gulped. "Uh... wow, that's really impressive."

Serena sniffed, "Flattery will get you no where. Jain crush his Marauder. Oh, by the way, Jain gains 300 attack points when he battles a monster." The holy paladin charged forward, a glowing aura surrounding him as his attack points raised to 2100, and slashed through the heavy armored knight. "Now Lumina, Wulf show this delinquent what he deserves." Lumina and Wulf both raised their weapons and charged forward and slashed down, but Lumina's glowing sword was stopped before it could reach Fayt.

"Sorry, but I stop you there. First my Defense Draw activates, negating the damage from Lumina's attack and allowing me to draw a card. Then my second trap activates after I take some damage." Wulf shot in front of Fayt and slashed him with his battle ax.

"Argh!" Fayt doubled over from the attack before activating his next card. "N-now for my second trap Go, Damage Condenser. I discard one card and special summon a monster with equal or less attack than the damage I just took. So I summon Dark Grepher." A White haired man with black skin and red eyes wielding a broad sword appeared before Fayt as he slid a card into his graveyard.

**Fayt: 1400LP**

"Hmph, you managed to open a few options, but it won't help you in the end. I'll play two face down and end my turn."

Fayt grinned, "Don't forget your Lightsworn's abilities."

"I know that!" Serena snapped, "Lumina makes three cards, my trap adds two more, and Jain adds another two, making seven cards total." She slid a small stack of cards into her grave.

"Someone's burning the candle at both ends." He looked down at his hand after drawing. "Well, let's get rid of that pesky summoner. I activate Trap Eater's effect. I can only special summon this card by sending a face up trap from my opponents field."

"Not so fast, I'll use my Mystic Wok to sacrifice my Lumina and gain life points equal to his attack."

**Serena: 2800LP**

The trap card faded along with Lumina. At the same time, a grotesque purple demon who's size was mostly made of it's giant mouth appeared in front of Fayt. "Okay, didn't plan on that, but no problem. Here comes the special part. Trap Eater is a Tuner monster, so I'll tune my Level four Trap Eater and my Level Four Dark Grepher." The purple monster split into four green rings that surrounded the evil warrior. Dark Grepher disappeared, leaving four glowing lights in his place.

The eight objects all shined as Fayt chanted. "Faint lights gather. Shine and cast the darkest shadow!" The light from the object condensed before turning pitch black. A giant black dragon, with a grinning face on it's chest, burst out of the black sphere. "Synchro Summon Dark End Dragon!"

Fayt grinned and pointed at one of Serena's monsters, "Now I activate his effect, by reducing his attack by five hundred points, I can send one monster on your side of the field to the grave. Dark Evaporation!"

The face on the dragon's stomach opened its mouthed and breathed a black mist out that surrounded Wulf sending it to the grave. "Don't think your out of the woods yet. My spell Cleansing Water restores my dragon's attack to 2600. Now Dark End Dragon, attack with Dark Fog!" The dragon opened it's normal mouth and spat a beam of dark energy that destroyed Jain. "I'll lay a trap and end with that." Fayt shook his head, a small smile on his face. "Well, as pointless as this duel is. I've got to say it's been fun."

**Serena: 2000LP**

"What's that? You're talking as if you've won. Draw!" Serena looked down at her card and nodded. "Fayt Reinchild, you have been accused of ditching, ignoring the dress code and obstruction of justice. How do you plea?"

Fayt rolled his eyes, "What is this a trial?"

"Of course, and I'm your judge, jury. So how do you plea?"

Fayt smirked, "What? No executioner. But I'll humor you. Guilty. At least for the ditching and the dress code."

Serena was taken back for a second. She didn't expect him to admit to breaking the rules. "Right." She quickly regained her composer. "Fayt Reinchild has admitted to his crimes. Now face your judgment. Come forth, Judgment Dragon!" A large blue dragon descended onto the field, instead of scales, the dragon was covered in feathers, and it seemed to shine with an bright light.

"I'm guessing he's your executioner?" Fayt gulped. That thing had 3000 Attack points, that was 700 more than his dragon. Still, he would survive the turn and with his Call of the Haunted trap he could revive his dragon next turn and destroy it with Dark End Dragon's ability.

"Yes, Judgement Dragon can only be summoned when I have four different name Lightsworn monsters in my grave. You've seen three on the field and my monsters effect of sending cards to the grave added the fourth. Now, you've admitted guilt. So face your punishment. Heavenly Wrath!" The dragon let off an earthen shattering roar that forced Fayt to cover his ears. Suddenly a large beam of light shot down from the sky and enveloped the field.

After the light faded, Fayt opened his eyes. "Hey! What gives?" All the cards on the field other than Judgment Dragon were gone. "What happened to my cards?"

"Judgement Dragon can destroy all other cards on the field. Nothing will prevent him from achieving justice. Of course such power comes with a price. One thousand life points to be exact." Serena pointed her finger at Fayt. "Now Judgment Dragon, direct attack!" A blast of pure holy energy slammed into Fayt, knocking him onto his back and reducing his life points to zero.

**End Duel**

**Fayt: 0LP**

**Serena: 1000LP**

**Victor: Serena**

Fayt groaned and briefly curled into a ball. "D-damnit, I didn't see that coming at all." He shakily stood up and offered a weak smile. "Good duel." His smile faded when Serena only glared back at him."

"I'll go tell the teachers to expect your apology." And with that she turned around and walked off towards the school building.

The other girl apologized before running after Serena.

"Geez, what's with her." He blinked before noticing something. "Did that other girl just stand there during the entire duel?" Pushing his confusion to the back of his mind, Fayt made his way towards the cafeteria. Hopefully he could catch the end of lunch before heading to the teacher's lounge to apologize. (3)

End Chapter 1

xxxxx

Author's notes: Okay so that's the first chapter. I've introduced some of the characters: Fayt, Michael, Serena, and that other girl whose name you'll learn in chapter 2, and wrote my first duel. So we'll see where I can go from here.

I'll have the next chapter ready pending a few reviews. (read: one or two) Any constructive criticism would be nice. Flames will be used to light stuff on fire. So help me prevent forest fires, don't flame.

Right the numbered notes.

(1) I'm trying to stay away from using Japanese words and phrases. But I still want to put in the phrase "Yare yare" in there instead of "What a drag." So, good idea, bad idea. Tell me please.

(2) Again, I'm hesitant on using Japanese stuff, but that character is special. I've actually planned her to be Japanese, with name looks, and the odd Japanese phrase thrown in. Again, if you think this is a bad idea or good idea please leave a message in a review.

(3) Some of you will notice that Fayt doesn't really react much to his loss. He's still confused over the entire event and more so in fact of what's with Serena. The loss however will make itself known in the coming chapter.

So, please leave any comments, requests (god knows there are only so many decks I can think off), or advice you can think of.

Thanks for reading!

Re-edited, 1/3/10

xxxxx

Preview: Chapter 2

"Yo! Fayt here being you the first preview of this story. I've already got a loss on my belt, I think my teachers hate me for ditching and I still can't catch a break today. This stupid upperclassmen thinks he can boss me around because I'm the only student that lost a duel today. Think again. Hopefully that loss early was just a fluke."


	2. Chapter 2

HS: Yea... I just noticed. In the last chapter I didn't add the attack and defense values of the monsters. I'll be adding that this chapter.

This chapter actually came out rather fast, well, because I had the hard part (the duel) written out a while ago. The next chapter will probably take longer than a week. This is pretty sad as these chapters are only hitting about 3k words, but I've got a load of AP courses this year and my computer time has been severely cut.

Fayt: Stop whining and write the next chapter.

HS: Where did you come from.

Fayt: I'm a muse, I go where I please.

HS: No. You go to the pile *points to a pile of dead anime and OC characters*

Fayt: *Sweatdrops while reading the sign next to it* Hall of dead muses...

HS: Right, on with the fic... I hope.

Disclaimers on the first page.

xxxxx

_**Freshman Welcome**_

**Neo Duel Academy High School Campus**

**Class 1-C**

"Stupid teachers, stupid first days, stupid crazy girls." Fayt slowly made his way into his classroom. He was in a sour mood. He decided to quickly make his way to the teacher's lounge and apologize to the teacher's who's class he missed. Most of the teachers were good natured about it but one of them had decided that a lecture about punctuality was necessary. It turns out that lunch had about ended by the time the teacher had finished his lecture. While one of the other teachers was nice enough to write him a hall pass, he was still mad about missing lunch. And to add salt to the wound, Michael was not being the sympathetic friend, but was laughing at his expense.

"Hahahahaha, I can't believe that you slept through all those classes!" Fayt only twitched, before deciding that decking Michael wasn't worth another lecture. "I mean, not only do you make yourself off as a rule breaker, you lost your first duel here too."

Fayt slumped into his desk. "Yea, yea... laugh it up. Freakin' girl." He laid his head on an arm and stared out the window. "Did I miss anything important?"

Michael shrugged, "Nothing much, we introduced ourselves and listened to the rules. Same old, same old."

"Hmm..." Fayt idly watched a teacher walk in. The man had long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and was dressed in a brown trench coat.

"I'm Professor Rolleck, and I'll be your thematic dueling teacher for the year."

Fayt sighed, "So begins the school year."

xxxxx

**Neo Academy High School Campus**

**Campus Lawn**

"We've got some weird classes this years don't we?" Fayt was surprised by some of the odd classes they could chose from. Thematic dueling, dueling history, duelist management, etc, and then there were the general education classes to add to that.

"It's Duel Academy. Most of the kids here came to duel or to go pro." Michael was reading some of the pamphlets for the dueling classes. "What electives did you chose. I've got tag dueling, and- umph!" Engrossed in the pamphlets Michael didn't notice when Fayt stopped walking and walked right into him. Blinking he looked around Fayt and saw a large student in red in their way.

Fayt looked up at the kid in confusion. "Uh... can I help you?"

The large kid grinned down at him. "Yeah you can get out of my way." He grabbed Fayt by the collar before tossing him to the ground.

"Hey!" Fayt quickly got back onto his feet and glared at the boy. "What was that for?!"

"You didn't get out my way. So I moved you. Didn't your mommy tell you to respect your betters?"

Fayt scowled, "What makes you think your better than me?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Guess you haven't been welcomed properly yet?" He started to talk as if to a little child, "Your a freshman, that means your fresh meat. As an upperclassman, I have the honor of bossing little wannabe duelists like you for the next year."

"That's it. I'm getting sick and tired to people yapping at me and trying to boss me around. First there was that psycho girl, and now you throw me around and think you can tell me what to do just because your a little older than me!" Fayt replied, he set his bag down and activated his duel disk. "You wanna boss me around, then you gotta prove your better than me first."

"Oh, so the little loser thinks he can play with the big boys huh?" The boy pulled out his own duel disk and activated it. "Well, your lucky. The name's Derek Garcia Class 2-E and I guess I'll be giving you the Freshman welcome."

"Freshman welcome?" He blinked before replaying the words in his head, "Hey, who you calling a loser?" He glared back at Michael, who was tapping his shoulder. "What?!"

Michael took a step back, "Sorry, I forgot to mention, but the class standings are displayed on the monitors in the hall and since your duel was the only one so far and you lost..."

Fayt groaned, "I'm the loser freshman. AKA the target for the day. Great, this day is getting better and better." He looked around and saw a small crowd gathering. "Even better, now there's an audience."

"So is the little loser ready or not?"

Fayt turned back and growled, "Game on."

"**Duel!**"

**Fayt: 4000LP**

**Derek: 4000LP**

Fayt looked down at his watch, "I want to get this done fast so I'll start this off." Fayt said, drawing his card. "I'll summon Double Coston in attack mode." He called a pair of twin spirits to the field. (1700/1650) "Your move."

"Ha, weak monster for a weak duelist." Derek taunted, "I'll summon Gladiator Beast Andal in attack mode!" Derek's monster was a large armor wearing bear with a scar on one of it's eyes.(1900/1500) "Then I'll take this to my home field. I play the spell Colosseum – Cage of the Gladiator Beasts." Suddenly the field that they were dueling in transformed into a large stone arena decorated with glowing lines. "My Colosseum gets a counter every time a monster is special summoned from the deck and my Gladiator Beasts get one hundred attack and defense points per counter. Now Andal crush his monster!" The large bear swung a large claw at the spirits destroying them and dealing Fayt 300 points of damage. "I'll end my turn."

**Fayt: 3800LP**

"Draw!" Fayt looked down at his hand, "I'll play Dark Eruption. This spell lets me add one Dark Monster with 1500 attack points or less to my hand. I'll add Obsidian Dragon, which I play in defense mode." A small dragon made up of black stone appeared in front of Fayt. (800/2100) "I'll play a face down and end."

"My draw!" Derek drew his next card. "I'll sacrifice my Andal to summon Gladiator Beast Spartacus!" Spartacus was a dinosaur clad in brown armor with a large axe in hand. (2200/1600) "And he'll destroy your little rock lizard. Go Spartacus!" The dinosaur charged the dragon and slashed at it with it's axe, but all it did was push the dragon back before both returned back to their original positions. "What!?"

Fayt grinned smugly, "I activated my trap. Waboku, your attack goes through, but no damage is done. Sorry, but brute force ain't gonna cut it here."

"Fine, since my monster battled I can use it's special ability send it to my deck and summon a different one in it's place. So Tag In! Gladiator Beast Laquari!" Taking Spartacus's place was a tiger-like monster in red armor with laser-like weapons. "When he's summoned by a Gladiator's special ability his original attack goes up to 2100, and don't forget that my field gets a counter also raising his attack by even more." The tiger monster gave a roar, which was answered back with cheering (2100/400-2200/500).

"No problem. Draw!" Fayt drew, "Lucky, I'll summon my tuner monster Dark Resonator." (1300/300). A small jester like monster holding a tuning fork appeared in front of him. "Let's go! I'll tune my level three Dark Resonator to my level four Obsidian Dragon to summon my Dark Strike Fighter!" The little jester tapped the tuning fork on the ground letting of a chime as it transformed into three green rings, at the same time Obsidian dragon shattered into four green orbs of light that merged with the rings.

Fayt closed his eyes as he chanted, "Dark Machine, Rise up from the Shadows!" When the light faded, a large winged robot was on the field. (2600/1800) "Then I play Monster Reborn to re-summon my Double Coston in attack mode." The twin spirits rose back onto the field. "Dark Strike Fighter attack his Gladiator, Dark Impact!" The robot fired an array of missiles that destroyed the monster. "Then Double Costen can attack directly!" The monster slammed into Derek for sixteen hundred points of damage. "That'll be all." The crowd murmered.

**Derek: 1900LP**

"My turn, Draw!" Derek looked down at his hand and smirked. "Geez loser, I thought I was in trouble for a second."

"Again with the loser comment. Look at the field jerk, I'm the one in control." Fayt snapped back.

"Yes, but you could have won last turn."

Fayt blinked, "Wah?"

Derek rolled his eyes and explained, "Dark Strike Fighter can tribute a monster and deal two hundred points of damage for each level that monster had. You have two monster's whose levels add up to eleven which means you _could_ have dealt me twenty two hundred points of damage and won."

Fayt looked even more confused, "Wait, Dark Strike Fighter can tribute itself for that effect? Argh!" He heard the crowd laugh at his mistake.

Derek sighed, "Idiot, I play Gladiator Beast Murmillo. Then since I have a Gladiator Beast on the field I special summon my Test Tiger!" A aquatic monster with turbines attacked to it appeared alongside an armored tiger. (800/400-900/500) (600/300) "Then Test Tiger's effect can be activated. I tribute it to send my Gladiator Beast back to my deck and switch it out for another. So I choose my Gladiator Beast Secutor, by the way, this count's as if a Gladiator Beast summoned it." The Tiger gave a roar before it and Murmillo disappeared in a flash of light. In it's place came a small frog like creature with a pair of cannons on it's shoulders. "That's two counters." The little thing gave a few hops which cause a roar of the crowd. (400/300-600/500) "I'll finish with two face down."

Fayt drew and frowned. 'Two face downs huh..." "I'll activate my Dark Strike Fighter's ability, I sacrifice my Double Coston to deal eight hundred points of damage!" The little spirits dissolved into a field of lights that was absorbed into the robot's cannons.

"Activate trap, Divine Wrath! I discard on card and negate a monster's effect, then that monster is destroyed!"

"What!?" A bolt of lightning flashed through the air and destroyed the large robot fighter.

Derek started laughing, "Come on, did you really think I'd point out your monster's ability if I couldn't stop it? What an idiot."

Fayt winced he could hear the other students laughing at him, "Yeah, I though that might happen, but, well, can't blame a guy for trying. And anyways, it got rid of one of your traps. I can't do much at this point. I summon Mystic Tomato in attack mode and attack your Secutor." A large tomato with a creepy looking face appear in front of Fayt before it launched itself at the Gladiator Beast.

"Wrong again, I activate my face down. Instant Spell, Self Tribute. I pay a thousand life points and my monster isn't destroyed. Oh, now that your battle phase is over, Secutor can special summon two Gladiator Beasts from my deck, and he doesn't need to sent to the grave either. So I'll summon another Gladiator Beast Laquari and bring back my Gladiator Beast Murmillo." The tiger-like monster and fish like monster both reappeared on the field, inciting the crowd to roar even more. "That make four counters, and don't forget Laquari's ability." (2100/400-2500/800) (800/400-1200/800) "Not to mention that Murmillo's ability lets me destroy one face up monster on the field." The fish monster's turbines sent a torrent of water at Mystic Tomato.

"Che, he keeps out maneuvering me. I play Mystic Wok, I tribute my monster and gain life points equal to it's attack or defense and I choose attack." The large tomato dissolved into bits of light that restored Fayt's life points. "I'll lay a face downs and end my turn."

**Fayt: 5200LP**

"Draw!" Derek looked down at his card and nodded. "Alright, I'll show you a real Gladiator. I send my three monster back to my deck to summon my best monster. Tag Fusion! Come out Gladiator Beast Heraklinos!" All three monsters fused together and a humanoid tiger appeared on the field. Fully dressed in decorative armor, it held an ax in one hand and a shield in the other. It gave a loud roar and raised it's spear the crowd roared back, raising it's attack. (3000/2800-3400/3200) "Go Heraklinos, Direct Attack!"

"I activate my trap, Mirror Force!"

"Heraklinos can negate a spell or trap as long as I discard one card from my hand." The tiger gladiator charged right through the trap card and slashed Fayt, dealing thirty four hundred points of damage. "I don't have any cards left so my turn's up. Let's see you defeat this."

**Fayt: 1800LP**

Fayt clutched his chest, "Ow... freakin' Solid Vision (1)." He took a second to catch his breath.

"Make your move already!"

Fayt growled, "Draw!" He looked down at the card and began to laugh.

"Uh... are you okay?" Genuine laughter, was not what Derek was expecting from the draw. Disappointment from a bad draw, anger at the deck for not supplying the card he wanted, heck he was hoping for frustration and hopelessness from the situation. Laughter was not on the list, well maybe deranged laughter if the draw was _really _bad.

Fayt grinned. "Perfect, I drew the game breaker. I drew the spell card Soul Release, I can remove up to five cards from either of our graves and remove them from play. I choose Mystic Tomato, and Obsidian Dragon from my grave, and Andal, Laquari, and that Test Tiger from yours." All five cards were spat out of the grave holder.

Derek frowned, a move like that wasn't something that was done without a plan. He didn't see how that card would be a game turner.

Fayt couldn't help the laughter, his opponent looked so confused, "Now I'll tell you a little secret. My deck is a Dark attribute deck, and the strongest cards in it are three Dark attribute dragons. Each of them have a lighter counter part. Now thanks to my spell card I only have three Dark attribute monsters in my grave. So I can summon this, the one of my Dark dragons, Dark Armed Dragon!" A large dragon, covered in armor roared as it was summoned onto the field. (2800/1000)

Derek's eyes widened. "Dark Armed Dragon?! How'd you get such a rare card?" (2)

Fayt grinned viciously, "Got lucky, real lucky after buying a few boosters. Dark Armed Dragon can destroy a card on the field for every Dark monster I remove from the grave. Since you only have two cards on the field, I'll remove two." Dark Armed Dragon launched a dark blade at Herklinos destroying, then it raised an armored fist and slammed it into the ground. The entire coliseum began to shake from the impact, before it all began to collapsed. The coliseum faded, leaving the duelists back on the lawn. "Dark Armed Dragon, Direct Attack!" The armored dragon slammed it's fist into Derek, ending the duel.

**Fayt: 1800LP**

**Derek: 0LP**

**Winner: Fayt**

"That's game over." Fayt exhaled, then smiled. "Okay, I feel better." He turned around and saw the crowd slowly disperse, chatting about the duel. Shrugging it off, he walked over to Derek and offer his hand. "You okay there?"

"Shut up freshman, don't think that a lucky draw means anything here." Derek slapped Fayt's hand away, got up and walked away.

Fayt winced, "Well, that could have gone better."

Michael bounced next to him. "Well, look on the bright side. This'll even up your record, heck you beat a upperclassman, that's got mean bonus points."

Fayt shrugged, "One win, one lose, I broke even." He shook his head. "Come on, let's head home. This day's been tiring."

Michael gaped at him, "How are you tired, you slept through half the school day?"

xxxxx

**Neo Domino City**

**Fayt's Flat**

Laying on his bed, Fayt stared at the ceiling reflecting on the day. "First day and I've made two enemies. The crazy rule enforcing girl, and then there was that Derek kid." He shook his head at that memory. "Freshman welcome, huh? I hope his friends don't go after me for beating him." He sighed, "What a drag. Hopefully this kind of stuff doesn't become a normal occurrence."

Poor, poor Fayt. He has no idea that Duel Academy is not the place for a stable education. (3)

xxxxx

Author's Note: Yea... That was a little dramatic, but honestly, not every duel is gonna have a awesome move that dramatically ends the duel. Nope, you'll see a few anti climatic duels here and there. Cause seriously, I'm not going to extend a duel I started to let the opponent summon their best creature, well bad example with this duel, but still. This ain't the anime, so some duels are going to be lame-ish in the future. Heck, this duel only lasted nine turns.

Originally I wanted to focus more on Dark End Dragon for Fayt's deck, I was also planning on adding the Ally of Justice cards. But that seemed really limited, and too focused on Synchro Summons for my taste. I never planned on talking about the importance of evolution or whatever the focus is on in 5Ds and synchro monsters. So I figured a dark deck, why not dark dragons to go with the whole dragons motif. So we have Dark End Dragon, last chapter, Dark Armed Dragon, this chapter, and one more. I'll let you guess what it is.

I've edited the chapter slightly. Nothing big on this one.

Repost: 1/3/10

Footnotes:

(1) I'm not absolutely clear, but Solid Vision is the tech that creates the pseudo real holograms for the duels.

(2) What really indicates how rare a card is in the anime/manga. I mean, the show isn't really that clear about it, especially since the main character's decks are loaded with supposedly 'rare' cards. I mean, technically Jaden/Judai's Neo's cards and Neo Spacians don't exist. So where the heck did all those support cards come from? Heck, how the heck does the duel disk read it, since it probably doesn't exist on the mainframe.

(3) See the summary. It isn't a Duel Academy year, without some sort of puppet master's plot or evil duelist on the loose.

As always, please leave any comments, questions, requests, or advice in the form of a review.

Thank you for reading!

xxxxx

Preview: Chapter 3

"Hey, Hey, Michael here. We got to see two awesome duels from Fayt. He's the talk of the class. Well, school isn't all fun and games, oh wait, this is Duel Academy of cource it's all fun and games. Next time, me and Fayt get into a tiny, little fight. The reason... the last package of melon bread in the cafeteria? Damnit Fayt not again!"


	3. Chapter 3

HS: Here's another chapter. Damn, I need a beta.

Fayt: Beta?

HS: Beta reader. Other than that I have no idea. Seriously, if one of you can tell me what it is and how it could help I would seriously appreciate it.

Disclaimer's on the first page.

xxxxx

Lunch, easily the best class of the day, and favorite of most students of every school on earth or the multi-verse. Whether your catching up on your homework or stuffing your face, if you're a student, lunch was a great time.

Fayt was no exception to this rule, but his reason was slightly different. Lunch was a much need sanctuary. The last couple of periods had been a nightmare. Four students had challenged him to a duel, three of them upperclassmen for his extended freshman welcome. While he had won all of them, they still wore him out and had made him late to several classes, which in turn had resulted in several lectures and adding that he still hadn't worn the uniform because he woke up late, had caused another lecture, which ended in him being late to lunch. All in all it was a pretty bad second day at Dual Academy.

Fayt scanned the lunch room rather nervously. It was pretty packed, and if he couldn't find Michael, or if there weren't any seats by Michael he'd have to sit with strangers. He really didn't want that to happen, but on the other hand, if he didn't go get his food first, there wouldn't be anything good left. Quickly making a decision he head towards the lunch line. Looking around he saw a single melon bread left, reaching for it, he was surprised when another hand grabbed it at the same time as he did. Looking up he saw Michael as the owner of the other hand.

Fayt growled, "Michael, let go of the bread."

Michael was surprised at the venom in Fayt's voice. "Dude, you okay?"

"Let go..." He didn't need concern or pity. All he needed was a melon bread and some peace and quiet.

"I can't." Michael really couldn't, his hand was trapped under Fayt's vice grip on the bread, not that he would let go in the first place. Melon bread was both of their favorites. "Besides, I'm sure that there's more in the back or something."

"That's the last one, and if your going to fight take it outside."

Both Fayt and Michael looked over and saw a blond girl in a blue blazer walking past them.

Fayt scowled, "Hey lady mind your own business." The girl stopped at the "lady" comment and glared at Fayt. Wincing, he quickly apologized. "Sorry, I don't know your name, and it's been a bad day."

Michael looked at him in amazement. "Dude, she's in our tag dueling class."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, she sits near the front. Her names Deliz Tate."

"Oh..." Fayt looked down as a blush found it's way onto his face. Lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck he grinned nervously. "My bad."

"Chance!" Since Fayt had let go, Michael took the chance and made a break for the cash register.

Instantly recovering, Fayt tackled him to the ground. "Never!"

Deliz sighed and stepped over the two wresting and payed for her lunch. "You know, fighting isn't allowed and your both drawing a crowd."

Both Fayt and Michael froze, "She's right..."

"We could get in trouble for this." Michael got back up and helped Fayt onto his feet. "So..."

"Duel for it."

"Deal!"

Running into the court yard Fayt and Michael stood opposite of each other and primed their Duel Disks.

xxxxx

"Are they seriously going to duel over a piece of melon bread?" Deliz couldn't understand what was going through those two's heads. She heard giggling behind her. Rolling her eyes she turned back to face a petite girl with long brown hair, dressed in the standard blue blazer skirt combo behind her. "Yuki don't tell me you think this is funny?"

Yuki shook her head, "No, well, maybe a little. It's such a trivial thing, but it's just that, this is Duel Academy, everything is settled with duels. You'd think that this being our second year we would be used to it." She smiled, "And anyways, it seems that Fayt can't get a break."

"Oh, you know him."

Yuki shook her head, "Natsumi said that Serena caught him ditching yesterday. She tried to give him the third degree when he blew her off."

Deliz winced, "Ouch, bet that didn't go well."

Yuki giggled again, "She threw her duel disk at him, then beat him in a duel."

Deliz rolled her eyes, "Standard Serena."

"Yep, oh they're starting!"

xxxxx

"This better not become a habit man. I would like to be able to eat lunch without have to do something like this."

Fayt scowled, "It won't be if the teachers leave me alone."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just start."

**_"_DUEL!"**

**Fayt: 4000LP**

**Michael: 4000LP  
**

"Let's get this done fast, Draw! I summon Dark Valkyria in attack mode." The dark fairy appeared in a shower of lights.(1800/1050) "That's all man."

"Really? I mean, you never were good at first moves, but that was pathetic. I summon Abyss Soldier and activate it's effect." A humanoid whale wielding a trident appeared on the field. (1800/1300) Swinging it's trident the monster summoned a wave of water that pushed the dark fairy back into Fayt's hand. "I discard one water card and send your monster back to your hand. Now since your open, Abyss Soldier direct attack." The whale creature stabbed Fayt with his trident, knocking him to the floor and dealing 1800 points of damage. "I'll play a face down to end my turn. Now that is a first move."

**Fayt: 2200LP**

"Ow..." Fayt held his stomach and wheezed. "Damnit, that hurts."

"Hey man are you alright?"

"Yea... I think my disk is on the fritz. I felt a lot of that attack." Fayt shakily got back to his feet, looking down at his arm he scowled at the empty spot where his watch should be, "Damn, no watch."

Seeing Michael's worried look he rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about it. It was probably a one time thing. We'd better hurry, I'm not sure how much time we have."

Michael's eyes widened at the statement before a small grin worked it's way to his face. "Well if you made a better first move than you wouldn't have felt that at all."

"Lecture less, duel more. My move! I summon my Dark Crusader and use his special ability. For every Dark monster I discard he gains 400 attack points. I discard two sending his attack up to 2400. Attack!" A large skull headed warrior rose to the field and fell onto the Abyss Solider destroying it with a single slash, dealing 600 points of damage. "I lay a face down and end. Did ya see that coming?"

**Michael: 3400LP**

"I expected that. You always were good on the counter attack, but I'm better. I discard my Warrior of Atlantis to add Legendary Ocean to my hand, which I'll play." The field shifted to an underwater ruin resembling something that could be mistaken for Atlantis. "This field gives Water monster two hundred attack and defense points, and it lowers all Water monsters' levels on the field and in our hands by one. So I can summon my Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness!" A giant Orca whale modified with weaponry descended. The field card boosting it's attack and defense as it lowered its level from five to four. (2100/1200-2300/1400).

Fayt grinned, "Not bad, but it still can't beat my Crusader."

"Wrong! I activate my trap, Reinforcements, which adds five hundred points to my Orca, more than enough to crush your monster. Orca Cannon!" The whale fired a blast from one of it's many cannons destroying Dark Crusader. (2300/1400-2800/1400) "End turn."

**Fayt: 1800LP**

Fayt drew his card and frowned, "Che, I set one monster face down and lay a reverse card."

xxxxx

Deliz shook her head, "That's not a good idea."

Yuki tilted her head, "Huh, isn't defense a good idea? I mean, that whale's got a good amount of attack points."

"Yeah, but with that field spell Michael can get some heavy hitting monster out real fast. So Fayt's gotta counter or else he's going to get swamped. Well, that is if Michael has some higher leveled monsters."

xxxxx

_'Damnit, where are all my high level cards?'_ Michael scowled down at his hand. "Hiding behind your monsters isn't going to work here. I summon Torpedo Fish." A small fish missile shaped fish rose onto the field. "I'll activate my Orca's special ability, I tribute my fish to destroy one monster on the field." Orca loaded the fish onto one of it's launchers before firing it at Fayt's face down monster shattering it. "Next, I'll play Double Summon and summon Nightmare Penguin. His special ability raises all Water monser's attack by 200." A penguin in a suit and top hat appeared next to the giant whale. (2300/1400-2500/1400) (900-1800-1300/2000) "Direct Attack! Orca Cannon!"

"Go Call of the Haunted! I bring Dark Resonator onto the field in attack mode." The little tuning fork jester appeared in front of the blast bleeding off some of the force, but the rest of it continued for 1200 points of damage. (1300/300) "Dark Resonator can survive being destroyed in battle once per turn."

**Fayt: 800LP**

Michael grinned "Not bad. I thought I had you there."

"You might still have me. I shift my Resonator to defense mode and set another in defense." The jester kneeled down as a face down card materialized next to it. "Why don't we play a game of choice?"

"Maybe." Michael looked down at his cards and grinned, "That Resonator's effect is pesky, but I've got just the card to beat it. I summon my Mermaid Knight!" The mermaid began to rise to the field only to stop half way and fade. "Hey, what gives?"

Fayt shook his head, "Sorry man, but Solemn Judgment negates your card for half my life points."

**Fayt: 400LP**

"Damn." Michael stared at both of Fayt's cards.

Fayt rolled his eyes, "Take your time, it isn't like lunch is going to end soon."

"Quiet, I need to think!"

xxxxx

Yuki frowned, "Wouldn't it be better to destroy Dark Resonator? He can't Synchro Summon than."

Deliz nodded, "Normally yes, but maybe he knows something about Fayt's deck that we don't."

xxxxx

Michael steeled himself and made a choice. "Orca, Penguin, destroy his Resonator." The penguin slammed the jester with an umbrella before it was destroyed by a cannon blast from the killer whale. "No Synchro monsters for you." Looking across the field he frowned, Fayt had a small grin on his face.

"That's where your wrong. I summon my Dark Bug." A group of purple blocks with spider legs appeared on the field. "When he's normal summoned I special summon one level three tuner monster from my graveyard onto the field. So come on back Dark Resonator!" The jester appeared once more next to bug.

"Damnit!" Michael swore, "You planned for that."

"Maybe, maybe not. Now, I'll flip my Dark Grepher face up and than tune him with my Dark Bug and Dark Resonator." Dark Resonator tapped his tuning fork before splitting into three green rings. Both Dark Bug and and the dark warrior that appeared shattered into five balls of light that entered the rings. "Faint lights gather. Shine and cast the darkest shadow! Come out Dark End Dragon!" The large black dragon roared as it appeared before Fayt.

"Aw crap..."

xxxxx

"That's a pretty impressive dragon."

Yuki nodded, "I heard him say that he has three Dark dragons in his deck. He used Dark Armed Dragon before."

Deliz gave a low whistle, "He's got some rare cards in that deck." She tilted her head, "I wonder what the last dragon is?"

Yuki shrugged, "Dunno, Natsumi only mentioned those two. Maybe he hasn't used the third one yet."

xxxxx

Fayt grinned. It was time for a comeback. "Bye bye penguin, Dark Fog!" The black dragon spat a black beam that pierced through the suit wearing penguin and dealt 1300 points of damage to Michael. "And bye, bye Orca, Dark Evaporation!" The large killer whale dissolved from the black mist. (2600/2100-2100/2100)

**Michael: 2100LP**

Michael grimaced, "I seriously hate that thing."

"Hey, this happens to be one of my best cards."

Michael rolled his eyes, "I never said that is wasn't a good card. It's just, that face on it's chest seriously creeps me out."

Fayt looked back at the dragon behind him, "Huh, I guess it does look a little creepy."

"A little? More like clown creepy." He drew a card. "Well, It doesn't really matter, he won't be here for long. Thanks to Legendary Oceans ability I summon Giga Gagagigo." A muscular lizard creature covered in wicked metal armor appeared in front of him. (2450/1500-2650/1700)

"Wait...Giga what?"

"Giga Gagagigo."

"...How the hell can you pronounce that?"

Michael sighed, "Never mind the name. Giga Gagagigo attack his dragon!"

"I remove the Necro Gardna your Ocra's special ability destroyed from my grave to negate your attack!"

"Damnit!" Michael looked down at his hand and scowled, "I play two cards facedown and end."

"My turn," After looking over his hand, Fayt gave an apologetic smile at Michael, "Sorry dude, but, I play Heavy Storm!" A fierce wind blow over the field, ripping both of Michaels traps apart. "I lower Dark End Dragon's attack by five hundred to send your monster to the grave, Dark Evaporation!" The dark mist engulfed the armored lizard before disappearing. "Than I summon Mystic Tomato!" The demonic fruit appeared onto the field. "Double direct Attack!" Mystic Tomato bit Michael in the arm before Dark End Dragon fired a beam of dark energy at him to end the duel.

**Michael: 0LP**

**Fayt: 400LP**

**Victor: Fayt**

"Game Over." Grinning at his victory, Fayt bounced over to claim his prize. Tearing open the package, he bit into the melon bread and sighed. "Sweet Victory."

"Yeah, yeah, enjoy it." Michael rolled his eyes, and left to buy something else before lunch ended.

"That was a pretty nice duel."

Spinning around, Fayt noticed Deliz and another girl walking over. "Thanks... Z something right?"

Deliz almost tripped but caught herself at the last second, "Z!" Fayt flinched as she started to yell, "Of all of things you remember, it's the last letter of my name!" She fumed, as Yuki laughed at both of them.

Fayt turned to the other girl, "Sorry, have we met before? You look familar."

Yuki shook her head and smiled, "I think your thinking of my younger sister Natsumi, she was with Serena when she dueled you."

"Serena? Oh!" He nodded, "The psycho chick from yesterday. Yeah, there was this other girl with her, but she was real quiet."

"That sounds like her. I'm Yuki Yamada. Me and "Z" are both second years." He smiled as Deliz growled at both of them.

"Nice to meet cha. I'm Fayt Reinchild, first year."

"We've heard of you. The freshman without a uniform that is terrorizing the upperclassmen with his dark dragons."

Fayt winced, "I wouldn't say terrorizing, I mean they're the ones challeging me."

Deliz sighed, "It's Deliz or Liz not "Z", and they're just rumors."

"I was kinda hoping that it wasn't a big deal."

"It's your second day and your already beating upperclassmen. Even if they aren't the best of the school, that's still going to catch some attention, good and bad."

Fayt groaned, "Well, thanks for the warning I guess." Fayt said sounding dejected, "I better head back in. It was nice talking to you, Yuki, Z."

"It's Deliz!" Deliz scowled as Fayt only walked away, shoulders slightly slumped at his newly learned infamy. "Damnit, can't he remember my name."

Yuki laughed, "He seems like an interesting person." She smiled as Deliz continued to fume, "Come on, we have to get to class."

xxxxx

Fayt: You made us duel over Melon Bread.

HS: Hey! Respect the Melon Bread. I would duel for Melon Bread.

Fayt: That's not the point! I can't believe that I'd duel over a frickin' Melon Bread?

HS: It was a bad day, you wouldn't take crap from no one, not even your best friend. It's part of your character.

Fayt: *Looking over the character sheets* I thought I supposed was cool and collected.

HS: You try to be, but you can be quick to anger and then quick to forgive.

Fayt: God, that's complicated.

HS: What, did you expect to be one dimensional. Michael's a spaz, but he means well. But... you'll see his dark side. Actually, you'll see all your dark sides... *Begins to chuckle evilly* Hint to the readers on what the real plot will be based on: Shadows, Midnight, and Fog.

But, since I have to introduce a bunch of characters, expect a more plot less filler for a bit.

Author Notes: Anyways, we've introduce two second year students, Yukiko Yamada, and Deliz "Liz" Tate or Z as Fayt will continue to call her, and we find out the name of the girl that was with Serena in Chapter one, Natsumi. God, I'm starting to have trouble keeping track of all the characters that are planned out.

As always, any reviews, encouragement, advice, criticism, requests, heck at this point I'd take a shout out. Seeing as this thing only has three reviews at this point, I'm pretty low on confidence on how this story is doing.

xxxxx

Preview: Chapter 3

"Fayt again. That was an fun duel, pointless, but fun. Next time, Looks like the focus on me has finally blown over. Thank God. Cool, I get the chance to Duel Natsumi. Huh? Hey, what's going on, I can't attack?! Damn, how am I supposed to get past all these barriers?!


	4. Chapter 4

HS: Well I finally finished Chapter four.

Fayt: 'Bout time.

Hs: Shut up.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yugioh 5D's or any of the cards used in the Yugioh franchise.

**xxxxx**

**Neo Domino City**

**Road to Neo Duel Academy**

A few weeks through school and Fayt found himself falling into a rut. Life had fallen into a rather loose routine. Get up, go to class, hang around with friends for a while, go home, do homework, sleep, and repeat. The fame he had acquired from beating all the upperclassmen that challenged him in the Freshman Welcome had disappeared, leaving him with the everyday life of a normal high schooler.

Fayt yawned as he continued down the road to Duel Academy. Idly he listened to some of the other students passing by chatter about rumors and the latest gossip. They were talking about some sort of superstition or something revolving rain. Fayt didn't really care all to much. Looking up at the sky, he silently sent a wish up towards the heavens.

'I know I'm going to regret this. But I wish that something would happen, nothing big, but something exciting.'

"Yo!"

Suddenly a hand slapped him hard in the back. Letting out a yelp, Fayt lashed out at the person behind him catching that person in the nose.

"Ow! Damnit Fayt!"

Blinking Fayt looked at the person he had hit. It was Michael, well it was Michael clutching his nose.

"Oh, geez, sorry man. You know your not supposed to sneak up behind me."

Michael glared at him, "Normally I can't sneak up behind you. You always know when I'm there."

Fayt grinned apolitically, "Sorry, my mind's was wandering."

Michael groaned, "Just don't hit me again." Shifting gears, Michael grinned up at Fayt. "So did you hear the rumors about the Shadow Duelist..."

**xxxxx**

**Neo Duel Academy **

**Class 1-C**

The class clammered around as the last bell rang signaling the end of the school day. The various teens chatted about their plans as they gathered their stuff. Fayt was no different. He lazily threw his stuff into his bag and shouldered it while listening to Michael chatter.

"So come on, it's not a back idea. It's a social experiment. You normally love this kind of stuff."

Fayt sighed, Michael had been trying to convince him to join him in a science experiment that involved a large amount of other teens. "I do, but-"

"No buts!" Michael interrupted him, "Anyways, I've already signed both of us up."

Fayt groaned "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. Look at it this way, there'll probably be some cute girls there."

That did cheer Fayt up a bit, but... "And this fact didn't influence your choice at all? I'm surprised that your not chasing some mystery about the school." He was the one that was interested in psychology. Michael was the one that would go after rumors and gossip about supernatural stuff.

Michael grinned, "Well, I might have seen some of said cute girls talking about said experiment, but that's completely irrelevant."

Fayt rolled his eyes, "Fine then. At least tell me what we're supposed to do."

"It's an experiment that throws people of different personalities together to record their interaction."

"So it's probably recording the interaction of different personality types or the ability for people to adapt to people outside of their normal social circles." Fayt mused.

"No idea, but we have to meet in the gym in half an hour."

**xxxxx**

**Neo Duel Academy**

**Gymnasium  
**

The Duel Academy gym was a fairly nice facility Fayt admitted. With rather eye catching murals on the wall, it was a place he wouldn't mind hanging around if he joined a sports club, which would be never.

The gym was rather empty, other than the few small groups gathered on various parts of the bleachers, it was completely bare. Fayt was half listening to whatever rumor Michael was talking about as he watched a teacher and a student walk in. They seemed to be trying to get the attention of all the students, but he really couldn't hear them. Fayt's eyes widened as he saw the teacher take out a megaphone. He covered his ears just in time.

**_"Oi! I Said To Quiet Down!" _**Most of the students jumped in the air at the loud noise. The all turned to the teacher who was grinning smugly. "Thank you. Now, I'm Professor Tolkson, I teach the Sociology class here at Duel Academy. Your all here because you've volunteered for a social experiment that examines people interacting outside of their normal social circles."

Fayt listened intently to what the teacher was talking about. He didn't really talk about it too much, but things like psychology, sociology and philosophy always fascinated to him. The teacher said that he would start pairing up people into groups and such, making sure to pair up people from diverse "social groupings." How he was going to make sure of that was anyone's guess.

"Well, than I'll start by numbering you off. Since you've all decided to group up with friends and personal acquaintances, this makes sure you're all group with people you normally don't associate with."

Fayt blinked. "That works."

**xxxxx**

**Neo Duel Academy**

**Class 1-C**

Professor Tolkson had begun to pair off people in different circles. He had to yell at a couple students that tried to maneuver themselves into different circles so that they could be with their friends. In the end, Michael got paired up with some upperclassmen he didn't know and Fayt had been left the last man standing. Seeing that he was without a partner Fayt had begun to panic. Luckily, he had been told that his partner was just going to a little late. After telling the professor where they were going to meet Fayt just wandered a bit before arriving at the spot. Seeing no one there, he sat down on top of a desk and waited.

Eventually the door shot open. A rather petite girl with short black hair ran in. Seeing me waiting there, she quickly bowed and babbled some sort of apology.

"A-ah, g-gomen, I mean s-s-sorry I'm late."

Fayt blinked. The girl was the same girl that he had seen with the psycho girl on his first day back. He tried to recall what her name was again. (It started with a Y? N?). She was dressed in the standard blazer skirt combo that made up the school uniform (a uniform that he had yet to find). Rather short, she had pale skin and a nervous look on her face. He idly noted the use of Japanese, and the girls asian features. She was rather cute.

The girl quickly straighted up and looked around nervously. "I-I'm sorry, how long have you been waiting here?"

Fayt waved off her apology, "Not long."

"S-sorry..."

Fayt rolled his eyes, "Not a problem."

A awkward silence followed. Neither of the two students were the talkative type. The girl, (he really should learn her name) sat down in a desk near Fayt and fidgeted nervously. Fayt just stared at the ceiling, wondering if he should start the conversation.

"Natsumi Yamada."

"Huh?" Fayt looked back at the shy girl sitting next to him. He was surprised that she had said anything. The girl (Natsumi reminded himself, he would have to remember that, at least for the rest of the day) seemed to fidget even more, and looked down at her shoes.

"My name, it's Natsumi Yamada."

"Oh, right. I'm Fayt Reinchild if you don't remember. I was the guy that your friend threw a duel disk at." He winced at the memory, that was not the best first impression he could have made.

Natsumi giggled and nodded, her gaze never leaving her shoes. "I remember. Serena was ranting for a while about delinquent students after your duel."

"Delinquent students? Geez, she makes it seems like I'm in a gang or something."

"W-well, you're not wearing the uniform now, are you?"

Fayt groaned and hung his head. "I can't find the stupid thing, and I don't want to order a new one." He muttered more to himself than to Natsumi.

Another period of silence seeped into the air. Fayt sighed and tried to think of a topic to talk about, or some sort of activity for them to do. Drawing a blank he decided to fall back to his default plan.

"Let's duel."

Natsumi looked up at him in surprise. "What?" She squeaked.

Fayt sighed and adopted a tone as if talking to a small child. "Duel, you know the thing with the cards." Natsumi looked at him in confusion. "Come on, we need something to break the ice."

Natsumi bit her lip nervously before slowly nodding.

Fayt smiled, "There we go. Come on, lets find some space for our duel."

**xxxxx**

**Neo Duel Academy**

**The Lot Behind the School**

"This'll be interesting." Fayt shuffled his deck and slid it into his disk. Across from him Natsumi armed her own Duel Disk. "Ready?" She nodded.

"**DUEL**"

Fayt: 4000LP

Natsumi: 4000LP

"Lady's first."

Natsumi nodded and drew her first card. "I-I'll summon Ice Blast User Rice in defense mode and end my turn." A women in blue armor appeared in a flurry of ice. (800/800)

"My move then." Fayt drew his card and played it, "I'll summon my Shadowpriestess of Ohm in attack mode." Fayt summoned a dark sorceress dressed in elaborate robes and a cerimonial hat.

"She'll attack your Ice Blast User with Shadow Elemental Blast!" The dark sorceress charged an orb of dark magic and fired it at the ice user. The magic blast engulfing the monster in a dark blaze. "You'll need stronger monsters than that."

Natsumi shook her head. "S-sorry Ice Blast User Rice cannot be destroyed in battle with monsters who's level is four or higher." When the fire faded away, Ice Blast User Rice stood there undamaged.

Fayt blinked, "Okay, maybe you won't need stronger monsters."

Natsumi drew her card. "M-my turn. I summon Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier in defense mode and play one card face down." Cryomancer was a man in wielding a wand made of ice. A face down card was placed behind him. (1300/0)

"Ice cards huh? I summon my Armageddon Knight in attack mode. His ability allows me to send Dark Grepher from my deck to the grave." A knight dressed in light armor and wearing a red scarf was summoned next to Shadowpriestess of Ohm.

"I can at least take out your Cryomancer. Shadowpriestess atta-"

"I activate Waboku, so I take no battle damage this turn."

Fayt twitched, "Damn. It's almost like dueling a burn deck. I use Ohm's special ability. I tribute a Dark monster like my Knight and she can deal eight hundred points of damage to you. Shadow Burn!" Armageddon Knight transformed into a ball of dark magic which the Shadowpriestess of Ohm launched at Natsumi. "I'll play a pair of face downs and end my turn."

Natsumi: 3200LP

Natsumi nodded and drew her card. "R-right, First I play Cold Wave. Neither player is allowed to play or set spell or trap cards until my next turn." Fayt swore as both his face downs were covered in ice.

"Then I sacrifice my Ice Blast User Rice to summon my Royal Knight of the Ice Barrier." A large knight in armor made of ice and gold wielding a lance took Ice Blast User Rice's place on the field. (2000/1000) "His special ability summons an Ice token on your field in attack mode." An ice statue in the shape of a knight was summoned on Fayt's side of the field. (1000/0)

"I'll shift my Cryomancer to attack mode and have him attack the Ice Token" Cryomancer summoned a large block of ice above the Ice Token which fell and crushed the statue.

Fayt: 3700LP

Natsumi smiled, "That's all for my turn. Remember my spell prevents you from playing or setting any spell or traps this turn."

Fayt sighed, "I remember. I play my Mystic Tomato in attack mode. He'll attack your Cryomancer." The demonic fruit/vegetable appeared on the field. It lunged at the monster, only to be stopped by a barrier of ice. "What the?! What happened?"

Giggling at Fayt's confusion, Natsumi explained. "If I have another Ice Barrier monster on the field, my Cryomancer prevents any level four or higher monster from attacking. That's why I didn't attack with my Royal Knight."

Fayt frowned, "That's a hassle. I'll just use my Shadowpriestess' ability on my Tomato." The fruit/vegetable transformed into a black orb that launched itself at Natsumi.

Natsumi: 2400LP

"Epp!" Natsumi squeaked as the magic blast hit her._ 'I need to get rid of that monster.' _She drew her card. "I-I tune my level 2 Cryomancer with my level 5 Royal Knight." The Cyromancer turned into two green rings that covered the ice clad knight.

Natsumi took a deep breath before chanting "C-chilling mist r-rise, create the world of ice." A flash of light engulfed the field. "Synchro Summon! Come forth Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!" A large dragon made of ice roared as it appeared over Natsumi's field. (2500/1700) "I'll use his special ability. I discard up to two cards and I can destroy as many of your cards as I discard. So I discard two cards to destroy both of your face down cards. Frigid Mist!" The dragon spat out a icy mist that froze and shattered both of Fayt's face down cards.

"Now he'll attack your priestess. Ice Breath!" A stream of ice shot out of the dragons mouth and froze the priestess before it shattered. "I play one face down and end my turn." Natsumi slid a card into her duel disk.

Fayt: 2900LP

Fayt grinned, "Okay that's more like it. If it doesn't have a defensive ability I can beat it." He drew his card and looked at it. A smirk worked its way onto his face. "Game breaker. I summon one of my Dark Dragons. Come forth Dark Armed Dragon!" The dark armor clad dragon roared as it stood opositte of the ice dragon.

"Activate trap! F-freezing Boundary." Ice shackles suddenly attached themselves to the dark dragon chaining it down. Dark Armed Dragon roared as it futilely struggled against the shackles. (2800/1000-0/1000)

"What?!"

Natsumi looked down, "Freezing Boundary reduces a monster's attack to zero and negates its special effects. It also cannot change its battle position."

"Aw nuts." Fayt looked down at his hand. "Fine, since that was a special summon I can sacrifice my Dark Armed Dragon to summon my Dark-"

"ATTENTION STUDENTS AND STAFF!"

Fayt stopped at the call and looked up. "Wha?"

Natsumi looked over at the school. "An announcement?"

"ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF ON CAMPUS REPORT TO THE AUDITORIUM. THERE HAS BEEN AN INCIDENT NEAR BY. THE SCHOOL WILL BE UNDERGOING A LOW LEVEL LOCK DOWN."

Fayt frowned, "What could have happened?" Looking across the field he saw that Natsumi had already deactivated her disk. "I guess we'll have to finish this some other time."

Natsumi smiled shyly and nodded, "R-right. We should head to the auditorium." She took off towards the school.

Sighing, Fayt deactivated his duel disk and followed her, at a slower pace of course. "I guess I got my wish. What a drag."

**xxxxx**

**Neo Duel Academy**

**Auditorium**

The auditorium was packed with students and staff. Everyone was talking about the announcement.

"Dude, what do you think happened?"

"I don't know, but this is messing with my practice"

"I heard some police sirens before the announcement."

"Yeah me too, they sounded real close by."

Fayt sighed as he listened to the chatter. Looking through the crowd he finally found Michael standing near by Deliz and Yuki.

Michael sighed in relief when he saw Fayt walk over. "There you are. I thought that something happened to you." He then noticed that Fayt was alone. "What happened to your partner?"

Fayt shrugged, "She ran off after hearing the notice. She's probably in her somewhere." He turned to the two girl. "Did you hear anything about what's going on?"

Yuki shook her head, but Deliz nodded, "There was some sort of incident near by. The police notified the school and the principal called for a lock down."

Fayt nodded, "That sounds about right." Looking over at Michael he saw a look of astonishment turn into excitement. "What's with you?"

"Don't you see?" Fayt shook his head, "This has got to be the Shadow Duelist."

Yuki tilted her head, "Shadow Duelist?"

Michael grinned, "He's this duelist that goes around challenging strong duelists. But the thing is, every opponent that he duels ends up in the hospital. Some of them are even said to never wake up."

Fayt groaned as Yuki looked horrified, "It's a rumor. There was probably a car accident or some sort of robber near by. The police'll take care of it, and if not Security will." He shook his head. "I doubt that a duel could send someone into a coma." Michael shot him an odd look before turning to Deliz and talking more about the Shadow Duelist.

"ATTENTION STUDENTS AND STAFF"

The room went silent as everyone turned to look at one of the speakers.

"THE POLICE HAVE NOTIFIED THE SCHOOL OF AN INCIDENT NEAR BY. ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF ARE TO RETURN HOME AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. I REPEAT ALL STUDENTS ARE TO HEAD STRAIGHT HOME"

"Well, that explains it vaguely." Fayt waved at the group. "I'm going to take the suggestion and head out. Later."

**xxxxx**

**Neo Domino City**

**Streets**

Fayt had taken the direct route home. Half way to his house it had started to rain. He sighed, "Typical."

Looking down the street he saw a crowd of people gathered around some yellow tape. Walking over he heard some of the women gossiping.

"So it was another Duelist."

"The last one was a Turbo Duelist, but this makes the ninth victim. Two Turbo Duelists and seven ground duelists."

"I heard that this is all some sort of gang war."

"I heard that there some sort of super duelist going around and putting duelists in the hospital."

"Maybe it's that Arcana movement again. You know that terrorist group from three years ago."

Fayt rolled his eyes at the random guesses. Looking over the people he saw a body being placed into an ambulance.

"Hey!" A hand grabbed onto Fayt's shoulder. "What's a duelist like you doing here?"

Fayt gasped, for a moment his entire body jumped. He turned and saw a middle aged man carrying a jacket scowling at him. There was a detective's badge attached to his belt. "I'm a student, I live near here."

The man frowned, "Duel Academy huh, then why aren't you wearing the uniform?"

Fayt groaned, "I couldn't find it."

"A likely story, maybe you're part of this crime here. An Academy student with no uniform and carrying a duel disk. Why should I believe you?"

"Graham! Stop bothering that kid and get your ass over here!" An officer called out.

The man jumped, "Right boss!" He turned back to Fayt, "You got lucky kid. But I'm on to you." He ran off back to the officer.

"God, what was that about?" More confused than anything, Fayt took a step towards the crime scene, but stumbled. Catching himself he had trouble regaining his balance. "Wha?" He waved a hand in front of his eyes. Making sure that everything worked he decided to head home, he was feeling rather tired anyways.

**xxxxx**

**Neo**** Domino City**

**Residencial Area- Slums**

**Fayt's Flat**

It was late at night when Fayt thought about the scene he saw on the streets.

Fayt thought back on the incident. There was something going on. Maybe Michael's stupid rumor was right. If there was so many victims maybe there is a common attacker.

He thought back to the detective. Did he really believe that Fayt did it just because he had a duel disk? He looked up at his ceiling. He would have to make sure not to meet that guy for a while (and find his stupid uniform).

Letting the sound of the rain along thoughts of continuing his duel with Natsumi lull him to sleep, Fayt missed his TV lighting up. On it was a fuzzy image of a girl in a Duel Academy uniform. The girl took a few steps back before throwing he arms up trying to ward something off. She let a scream that went unnoticed as the TV kept silent. The image faded as quickly as it came.

Fayt continued to sleep on undisturbed.

**xxxxx**

**???**

_There was something wrong. He knew that some was... off. But he couldn't figure out what. _

_Looking around he saw mist, no fog, all around him. It was so thick that he probably couldn't see farther than five feet in front of him. Choosing a direction he started walking into the fog._

_"Who are you?_

_He looked around, trying to see where the voice had come from. It was in vain, he couldn't see anything through the fog._

_"You aren't supposed to be here." The voice sounded both annoyed and intriged. "What are you searching for to arrive at this path?"_

_He turned and ran towards the voice. Straining his eyes he thought he saw a silouette before it disappeared._

_"I wonder what your power can do in this place? Shadows trying to see through the fog." The voice chuckled._

_The voice began to echo all around him. The fog began to get thicker. He tried to yell out, demand that the voice stop talking in riddles, but no sound would come out of his mouth._

_"We will be waiting for you. Will you be an ally, a victim, or an enemy? I wonder what destiny has in store for you?"_

_The fog was starting to smother him. He struggled to breath as his entire body began to feel like lead. He tried to yell out, to scream, or escape the fog, but his body wouldn't listen. The world be__gan to go black as the fog choked the life out of him._

_The voice laughed at his struggles. A low chuckle that cut through the air._

_"Please" The voice mocked him, "Entertain us as long as possible."_

Fayt shot up and panted, "What the hell was that?!"

**xxxxx**

Authors notes: Well we have another duel unfinished and the obvious foreshadowing for the actual plot.

Fayt: What the hell was that?

The plot. I was planning on having some more chapters introducing characters, but then I decided to just start the plot with characters coming in later on.

Fayt: You interupted my duel!

*Shrugs* People were dieing, your duel was a formality.

Well I'm pretty sure that I have like ten readers. So please read and review and leave any criticism, advice, questions or requests in the form of a review. I would like to have 5 reviews before I post chapter 5, but I'll settle for 2 or 3.

**xxxxx**

"Fayt here. Something's seriously going on. Students are being pulled out of class and Michael is acting weird. He's keeps talking about this weird rumor. Then there was that weird dream I had. What's happening to Domino?


	5. Chapter 5

Wow, it's been a while since I've even looked at this thing. I kinda got side tracked by another story and I'm revamping where I was taking this story.

---

**Neo Duel Academy**

Fayt arrived at school an hour early. He had tried to fall asleep a few times, but couldn't get that weird dream out of his head. After staring at his ceiling for almost an hour he decided to head to school early. After wandering around a bit he decided to wait for Michael at the gate.

After waiting for a bit he saw Michael slowly making his way towards the gate. "What's up?" He waved him over.

Michael looked up bewildered, "Huh? Fayt?"

"Yeah, what's with you? Normally your mister cheery happy in the morning."

Michael shook his head, "Nothing, just..." He paused before shaking his head once more, "It's nothing."

Fayt frowned. He didn't believe that for a second. "It doesn't sound like nothing."

Michael bit his lip before relenting, "Do you know the rumors about the Shadow Duelist?"

"Yeah, the one that supposedly puts people in the hospital after dueling them." Fayt didn't like the way this was heading.

"I was going through some of the rumors on the internet, you know. And I found this one where if you go to this special channel you can watch him duel." Michael looked half scared, half excited, "I went looking for it, but I kinda gave up after a while. I was tired from doing homework and doing research on this, so I turned the TV off. As I was starting to get up and head to bed the thing turned right back on. I thought that maybe I had pressed the wrong button or something when something appeared on the screen." Michael was shaking at this point. "A girl, she was dueling when something attacked her."

Fayt rolled his eyes, "Dude, you probably saw one of those late night movies or something."

"It's not that!" Fayt took a step back at Michael's tone. "That girl, she... she goes to our school. I've talked to her a few times during class. She was definitely dueling, her disk was activated and I could see some cards on it. I couldn't see the life point counter, but I think it was that she had just lost to the Shadow Duelist and he was broadcasting his victory."

Fayt was surprised. Michael was the more superstitious one of the two of them. He loved learning about myths and mysteries, but this was the first time he'd seen Michael take one of these things seriously. But, this was also the first time that he had run into actual proof of one of the myths he researched.

Fayt sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Look, we'll ask around later, and check if the girl's at school. If she is, then this is probably nothing. If she isn't, then..." Then what? Were they supposed to go find this guy and shake him down. "Then we'll check out the girl's house."

xxxxx

**Neo Domino City**

**Residential Area -Middle Class**

**Madison Summers' House**

"Okay, so let me do the talking."

"But-"

"Mike, we don't need you scaring them with rumors until we can get all the facts first. We don't even know for sure that she's missing."

It took a little convincing, but Fayt got Michael to agree to wait until school was over to check on the girl. They had asked a couple of students if they had seen the girl (Madison, Michael had told him). No one had seen her since yesterday. After checking with one of the teachers, they had found out that she hadn't come to class at all. Michael had started to panic at this point. Fayt admitted that he was a little startled at the news.

They checked the student directory for Madison's address and headed over right away.

Michael was having a panic attack. "The secretary said that she didn't come to any classes, and that the her parents didn't call her in. So something had to have happened. Maybe they were attacked, or she's kidnapped and the Shadow Duelist threatened to hurt her if parents told anyone. Maybe-"

Fayt groaned. Michael was going to be useless for this. Taking a quick breath he knocked on the door. After a few moments the door opened revealing a bleary eyed girl. Before Fayt could say anything he was shoved to the side by Michael.

"Maddy!"

Fayt was both amused and slightly worried as he watched Michael tackle the girl and babble about how worried he was. Pulling Michael off the girl he turned to the girl. She was about his height, had long brown hair and was dressed in a pair of pajamas.

"Sorry 'bout that. He's been pretty worried about what happened to you."

Madison looked rather frazzled, "Wha?"

Fayt grinned while holding back the struggling Michael. "This guy thought you were in danger."

That only confused the girl even more. "Danger? From what?"

"We'll explain. But could you let us in." They were starting to get weird looks from some of the people walking by.

xxxxx

After sitting down, Fayt explained how Michael saw her on TV being attacked. How they asked around and when they found that she hadn't been at school Michael had panicked "Hey you panicked too", and finally they had found her address and came over to check on her.

Madison (Maddy she insisted) told them how she'd been sick, and since her parents weren't home, she didn't know that the school didn't know where she was.

Michael was relieved, "Thank god. I seriously thought that you were attacked last night."

Maddy shook her head. "I was at home all of last night."

Fayt turned to Michael, "Michael are you sure that is was her that you saw?"

Michael nodded, "I know what I saw. It was definitely her. You were dueling and then out of nowhere these shadows came up and grabbed her and drabbed her out of sight"

Maddy shuddered, "That's freaky. Do you think it means something?"

Fayt sighed, "I still think that Michael was having a bad dream."

"Hey!"

Maddy bit her lip, "But if it _does_ mean something. What am I supposed to do? What if this Shadow Duelist comes after me now?"

Fayt sighed, "I don't know."

Michael gaped at him. "What do you mean you don't know? We've got to do something."

Fayt ran a hand through his hair. "We're not even sure that Madison is going to be targeted. We don't know what Michael saw, and if it is even connected to the Shadow Duelist." He shook his head, "Heck, we're not even sure if the Shadow Duelist even exists, or even if Michael really saw you." He stared at the cieling. "The best thing would be going through your days like normal, but to be on guard. You never know if something might happen."

Seeing both of them staring at him, Fayt laughed, "Geez, both of you. It's probably nothing." They both glared at him.

Fayt sighed as he watched Michael pesker Madison about getting better soon. "It had better be nothing." He murmured under his breath.

xxxxx

After a saying goodbye, Fayt and Michael left Madison with the promise to visit tomorrow if she couldn't make it to school.

"Well, at least we know that she's alright."

Michaell nodded, "Yea..." He turned to Fayt. "Do you really think that something is going to happen to her?"

Fayt stopped walking and sighed, "Honestly I'm not sure. I'd like to think that she's safe. But the TV thing is starting to bother me."

Michael nodded, "Yea..."

Neither of them said anything as they parted ways.

xxxxx

**Neo Domino City**

**Streets**

Fayt was lost in his own thoughts as he made his way back home. There was something wrong with this entire situation.

"Hey!" A hand grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled him back. "I'm talking to you." It was that cop from the other day.

Fayt mentally groaned, "Can I help you officer?"

The hand moved to his collar and lift him off his feet. "Yes, you can start by telling me why your targeting duelists?"

Fayt blinked, "Excuse me?"

The man growled, "This is the fifth time I've seen you come by the scene of a crime."

Fayt stopped, "Woah, back up a second. Crime Scene?"

"Yes, there was another victim of the Shadow Duelist found here."

"And you've seen me walk by several times?"

"Yes, and every time you have a duel disk attached to your arm. Convenient isn't it?"

Fayt glared at him, "I told you last time, I'm a Duel Academy student and I live that way." He pointed towards his apartment complex.

"Prove it." The rent a cop said.

Fayt pulled his wallet out and showed his school ID.

The cop snatched it out of Fayt's hand. "Fayt Reinchild, class of 1-C..." He read and scowled. He reluctantly let go of Fayt. "I'll be watching you Reinchild." The man handed back Fayt's ID and walked away muttering.

Fayt smoothed his clothes and frowned, "The crimes are all around this area, ne. Maybe it's time I did some research of my own."

xxxxx

**Neo Domino City**

**Slums**

After making a quick stop at his house Fayt wandered into the slums of Neo Domino. He made his way to the park and idly watched the sunset. He watched as the sun made it's way under the horizon.

Almost as if one cue the city changed.

Neon lights turned on, bathing the city in multicolored lights as they advertised their wares, seedy merchants came out of the woodworks trying to sell cards and other random merchandise, and the roar of D-Wheels resounded as the underground races started.

Fayt smiled at the sight. "Duel Time."

Duel Time, the underground of Neo Domino. It had started up a little while ago, after Satellite and the main land had connected. Loads of people had come in, both good and bad. It was inevitable that the black market would follow. While the Public Security Bureau maintained the peace in the day, the night was completely different. This was the time for illegal duels, and black market sales. The underground was probably his best bet on finding information about the Shadow Duelist. He doubted that he would get any hard facts, but there would be plenty of rumors about a guy like that.

Fayt make sure that he went by un noticed as he entered a shady looking bar.

xxxxx

The Hanged Man wasn't the cleanest place. It couldn't be with the client tel being mainly marker holders and other criminals, but it was the best place for Fayt to find answers he wanted for two reasons.

First was the fact that he knew the owner, K.J. (He still didn't know what the letters stood for). Who didn't look like a bartender. No, dressed in a worn track suit, and a seemingly endless source of energy and youth, K.J. looked more like a gym teacher then a bartender. He was a nice guy, and had more stories of crimes and cons then most of the customers.

Secondly was the only rule of The Hanged Man. No fights, no duels. You wanted to start one, you take it outside. Fayt had seen plenty of people of all sizes and colors get thrown out of the bar for trying to start something. He'd even seen a couple of cops get thrown out for trying to arrest a customer. It was actually pretty funny to see K.J. literally throw all kinds of people out of the bar.

K.J. looked at him and scowled, "Don't you think your a little young to be here, boy?"

Fayt rolled his eyes, "Hardy, freakin' har. You still haven't thought of a new line to greet me with?"

K.J. merely shrugged and grinned, "Don't fix what ain't broke. So what brings you to this crap shack. I thought your days of underground dueling was over."

"They are, I'm here for research."

K.J. raised and eyebrow, "Research? What the hell can you find out here that you can't find in your fancy pants academy?"

Fayt shrugged, "Rumor mongering. You know like about the Shadow Duelist."

That caught K.J.'s attention. The grin slid right off his face and suddenly he was all business. "What do you want to know?"

Fayt noticed the change, "Where to find the guy, motives, and if he has a calling card." He frowned, normally he had to bitch and haggle to get a single bit of information of K.J. "And what's with you?"

K.J. scowled, "That guy took out some of my regulars. I like my regulars, they pay their tabs."

Fayt pressed his palm to his face. "Right, I'm guess they were duelists?" Seeing K.J. nodded he pressed on. "I haven't been able to find any real connection in any of the attacks. I'm hoping that you've heard something about them."

"I've heard plenty. Most of it is BS about magic and other non-sense."

I nodded, "I thought so. So what's the BS?"

"You can't be serious." K.J. was staring at me in disbelief. "You don't actually believe that crap do you?"

"I've seen some weird stuff before." I shrugged, "If someone wants to play magic duelist, I'll bite." I leaned forward onto the counter.

"Alright then, it's like this..."

-

**Fayt's POV**

**Neo Domino Slums**

**Back Alley**

K.J.'s information network was as good as ever. Sure the rumors were complete crap, but within the stories of monsters coming out of shadows, and the Grim Reaper coming to duel a person for not dieing was a drop of truth. The victims were all known duelist, at least locally they were. Most of them had built up some sort of reputation or had a reasonable amount of followers. This guy was looking for big prey, he wasn't dealing with any low level duelists.

I was able to buy some bandannas and other stuff to made myself look like a respectable gang member and then hit the streets. I made sure to stick to the shadier part of town. The places that the duel gangs and underground duelists circles would be. I had my duel disk on and kept it out in plain site.

I was followed by a couple of punks that thought they could threaten me. One duel later and most of the crowd backed off. A One Turn Kill with my Dark Armed Dragon can do that. It was a lucky draw, but the duel did it's job. I had no doubt that people would start talking, and hopefully I could catch this guy.

I wandered around the back streets a bit before I noticed I was being tailed. A single person and he wasn't really making hiding the fact that he was following me. I couldn't see his face, but this seemed like my best bet. I walked into an abandoned alley and waited for the man to catch up. He was pretty tall and had some sort of cloak on. Not something that blends in well in a city like Neo Domino. I couldn't really see his face as his hood made it difficult to see it. All in all, a pretty suspicious guy.

"Do you need something?" I asked politely.

The man pointed towards my arm, "That duel disk... Where did you get it?"

I looked down at my duel disk. I had swapped out my Duel Academy regulation disk for my old custom one. The shape of the disk was similar to the basic one, but the motif was of a black dragon. The graveyard slot was made into a black dragon's head mouth, the head's eyes were made of some sort of red gem stone. The card play area was made like a black dragon's wing, and the deck holder was topped with a spiked tail. It was a harsh contrast to his Academy disk.

"It's mine."

"A black dragon duel disk. Hehehahahahaha!" Fayt frowned as the man started laughing like a lunatic. What was so funny? The man continued to laugh for a bit before it died out.

_This guy was really starting to creep me out. _

"Are you the Shadow Duelist? Are you the one that's been sending people to the hospital?" I question the man "And what's so special about this thing?" I looked down at duel disk, other than the unique look, it was your standard duel disk.

The man chuckled, "Shadow Duelist? I guess you can call me that." My eyes widened as the shadows of the alley began to shift and raise like snakes. "For your second question it's not the duel disk that's important. You're a very hard man to find Mr. Reinchild."

"You've been looking for me? Why?"

_Who would want to look for- Oh, crap._

"Honestly, I have no idea." The man shrugged "I was payed to find you and take you out. No hard feelings, but I can't let you live."

The shadows tendrils suddenly stopped then rocketed towards me. The ends of each tendril was sharpened to a razor point. I threw my hand forward. The shadow blades all slammed into an invisible barrier around me. I frowned, I really didn't want to do that.

"Hoho, looks like they were right. You're no ordinary duelist." He primed his own duel disk. I could see him lick his lips beneath his own hood. "Good, I've grown bored of normal duelist."

I shuddered before activating my own duel disk. "I don't have any idea who the hell you think you are, but if it's a duel you want. I'm not going to hold back." I could feel my body grow tense. This wasn't going to be a normal duel.

---

And we have actual plot now. And no, Fayt isn't some sort of deus ex machina, or using a Millennium item or something like that. I'm sticking with the 5ds and my other crossover elements. It's actually something really simple.

No duel this time. The next chapter will have the duel.

Also the last part of the story is written in the first person rather than the third. This was a test of sorts. I want to know what you the readers (all ten of you) think is better. I'm still trying to really grasp my writing style here.

Please Read and Review.


End file.
